SYRACUSE — First-year Wawasee girls soccer coach John Blunk seems to mirror the experience of his soccer team right now. Following a 3-2 home win over West Noble (0-1) Wednesday, the Wawasee Lady Warriors now sit at 2-0 on the season, but Blunk, who also serves as Wawasee's baseball coach, can thank a senior for that. Through the first two games of the season, Wawasee senior Mallory Rondeau has scored eight goals, including all three in Wednesday's win. "We're young, but we still have Mallory," Blunk said. "Without Mallory, we don't score right now." Rondeau, a three-time Northern Lakes Conference First Team member, is the school's all-time leader in goals (73) and assists (32). With those states, there's no doubt she will be the engine that makes the Lady Warriors go in 2011. "Mallory's going to put the ball in the net, but we're going to need to find some other people to score," Blunk said about the Grace College-bound midfielder. "Teams are going to start double and triple teaming her or mark her all over the place. We have (senior) Laura (Romar), (senior) Lexi (Blunk) and others that are going to need to put the ball in the net." While Rondeau was dribbling around West Noble Lady Charger defenders with easy, Lexi Blunk did get two golden opportunities, but one was kicked right to the goalkeeper and the other hit the crossbar. "We're getting shots on goal," John Blunk said. "We got 32 shots against Lakeland (Monday) and 17 here tonight, and different kids are taking shots, so that's even better for us." John Blunk does have nine seniors on the roster, but he also has 10 freshmen, two of which started against West Noble, while another four others came off the bench. "They know what they need to work on," the coach said. "They have to work on spacing and communication. That's what we've been working on all year." The Lady Warriors will take part in Saturday's Fort Wayne Snider Invitational, which will take place at The Plex on the campus of IPFW.
WAWASEE 3, WEST NOBLE 2 WN — Ana Herrera 2nd min. Waw — Mallory Rondeau 5th min. Waw — Rondeau 45th min. Waw — Rondeau 56th min. WN — Herrera 77th min. Shots — Wawasee 17, WN 3; Shots on Goal — Wawasee 9, WN 2; Saves — Wawasee (Jordan Edington/Caitlin Clevenger) 0, WN (Carolina Guzman) 4; Corner Kicks — Wawasee 5, WN 0; Records — Wawasee 2-0, WN 0-1
